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DRIVER NEWS: Piastri on the charge at Snetterton

03 Aug 17

Supplied by driver’s PR.

3 AUGUST, 2017 – Aussie single-seater ace Oscar Piastri dominated the sixth meeting of the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost campaign at Snetterton Circuit, adding two more wins and raising his tally to 10 podium finishes as we tick past the halfway point of the season.

After setting a blistering time in official practice, almost three tenths faster than his nearest rival and team mate Ayrton Simmons, Piastri backed it up in qualifying with the two fastest laps of the 20 minute session, taking a career first double pole.

Race one was a textbook lights to flag win, with Piastri breaking away from the field then managing the tyres home for an easy victory over team mate Simmons securing Arden’s first one-two finish in British F4. Race three was looking like another breakaway win, but a couple of mistakes in the early laps allowed Piastri’s former karting teammate Sargeant to close the gap. An intense but clean racing battle ensued for the remaining laps seeing Piastri hold on for the win in another lights to flag victory.

“It’s been a great weekend, fastest in practice, double pole in qualifying and two race wins leading from lights to flag – it doesn’t get much better. The Arden Motorsport team has done a fantastic job with the car.

“I was really happy to back up my speed in practice with double pole in qualifying because you never know how things might go with the weather or red flags during a session. To have all four TRS Arden-prepared cars inside the top six and lock out the front row for the team was amazing.

“Race one turned out pretty easy. I got a good start, made a gap and then managed the tyres home without too much drama so it was nice to get that win and the points.

“In Race two, I started in P9 behind Ayrton and I knew it would be tough to pass him, we had a few good battles but in the end he held on. Racing on used tyres when the front runners are on their new tyres is always a challenge in the reverse grid races and the safety car period also made it difficult to gain places.

“I made a few mistakes in the opening laps of Race thee. A big slide coming onto the main straight meant I dropped a lot of time on lap two which let Logan back into the tow. Then I managed to pick up the pace and defend when required. I knew I was stronger in the first two sectors but he was faster in sector three and the tow down the straight into the wind was helping him. I was really happy to come away with the win and the points.”

Piastri is currently second in the championship, 46.5 points behind leader Caroline.

“I’ve halved the gap to Jamie over the last two rounds while extending my lead over third, so hopefully I can continue this trend over the remaining four rounds.

HP Tuners co-founder and American Trans Am series racer, Keith Prociuk was also impressed: “It’s always great to see Oscar winning races. I have no doubt we’ll see him continue to score points and fight to the end for this championship. As a performance tuning company, we live and breathe high performance vehicles and racing so it’s great to see him on the top step this weekend.”